Jump
by kamelion
Summary: Pythagoras is witness to a traumatic event.


This scenario popped into my head. I don't know why. But I took a break from my long story to write it, I hope you enjoy! I'm not using a beta so please forgive any errors, I tried to catch them. Let me know what you think! - Kam ;)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jason was laughing when he turned to face the door.

What he saw was an image that would leave him no time soon. Pythagoras stood there, his arms held slightly from his sides, his wide, blue eyes round with shock, his face slack in confusion. And there was blood.

Blood was splattered all over him.

Jason could only take one step toward him before he was muscled to the side by the urgency of Hercules, who yelled out his friend's name as rubbery legs finally deposited Pythagoras to the floor. Hercules managed to catch him before he hit hard. Pythagoras looked startled.

Jason knelt before him, hands on his friend's knees, saying nothing but studying his eyes. Hercules braced Pythagoras' shoulders. "What in the gods names happened to you?"

Pythagoras gave his head a small shake and looked around him. His eyes met Hercules'. "I tried," he said softly.

Jason pressed his lips together and lifted his friend's shirt, checking for injuries. "Tried what?"

Pythagoras glanced at Jason, almost uncomprehending, then said in a quiet voice as though Jason should have known, "To save him."

Jason paused, and he and Hercules exchanged a glance. "Let's get him up," Hercules said, and did not wait for a response as he slung Pythagoras' arm over his shoulder. The two men hoisted their friend and guided him to the table. He slumped onto his stool.

Jason could find no injuries. He breathed out in relief and eyed the jug. Hercules took the hint, "I'll return as quick as I can," taking the empty jug and hurrying out.

"He only claims to be fat and lazy" Jason said, taking the stool beside his friend.

Pythagoras looked up. "I'm sorry. I did not mean to alarm you."

"Are you all right?"

Pythagoras nodded, then shook his head. "I do not know. I will be. I think. I…" he shook his head again.

"Hercules will be back in a moment. Just relax. Do you need to lie down?"

"No. Honestly, I am fine." He gave a small smile. "I'm grateful for your…" he shook his head again, and gave a short sob.

"Pythagoras?" Jason gripped his friend's shoulders. He had seen the man concerned, frightened, and angered, but never like this. He wasn't sure what to do. "Can you talk about it?"

He sniffed, and nodded. "Wait for Hercules. I only want to speak of this one time, and no more."

"Of course." Jason released him and looked around feeling at a loss.

Pythagoras gave a small laugh. "You are a good friend. There is nothing I need."

Jason exhaled in acceptance and nodded, clapping Pythagoras on the shoulder.

"Would you believe there was a line at the well?" Hercules burst in and bulleted right towards the shelf holding small earthenware cups. He poured water and pressed the cup into Pythagoras' hand. "Drink."

"Thank you." He did so, under his friend's watchful eye.

"More?"

"No, I don't think so."

Hercules harrumphed and bumped around the table to sit across from Pythagoras. He took in the state of his friend in one visual sweep. "Talk to us. How is it you've come to be splattered in blood? What have you seen?"

His voice was gentle. As much as they teased Hercules, Jason was always grateful for his fatherly attitude towards the men when they needed it. He never forgot the way Hercules cared for him when was he in the ring, fighting man after man until his body tried to break down. Medusa had hinted at the care Hercules provided when he was fevered, and indeed he could remember waking to see the hulking man leaning over him, moistening his brow with a watered-down cloth. Now that care was shifting toward Pythagoras in a nearly visible wave.

Pythagoras cleared his throat. His voice was shaky, as were his hands. "I was returning from the gardens," he said. He pulled at his bottom lip, his eyes watering.

"Take your time," Hercules soothed.

Pythagoras sniffed loudly and coughed. The men gave him time to regain his composure.

"I heard a noise above me. I looked up and saw Abderus. He was standing on the roof of his home. I could see his toes over the edge of the roof, you know how his roof is flat."

"Always got on to him about that," Hercules muttered. "A flat roof collects water, perfect for leaks. Was he checking for leaks?"

Pythagoras looked stunned by the casual tone, as though his tormented brain could not wrap around it. He shook his head. "He was crying. I called up to him and he said my name, then said for me to leave him. I started to go inside but he bade me remain. I stepped backwards into the street…I - I promise my eyes never left him!

"I wanted him to talk to me. I asked what he was doing up there, begged for him to come down and have a drink with me. The whole time he shook his head. Once he put his hands to his head and cried out so loudly I fully expected the street to crowd with curious onlookers. But it was me and Abderus only." Pythagoras paused, picking at a splinter in the table. He wiped his hand over his face and sniffed again, his eyes not leaving the splinter.

"He said he was in trouble," Pythagoras continued with a light sob. "He said the palace guards were coming for him, that they would slaughter him and he did not know what to do. I asked of his crime, hoping perhaps I could offer advice but he would not speak of it. He waved me on, urging me to leave, saying if I stayed I would be implicated but I did not want to leave him up there."

"This isn't like him," Hercules muttered. "What was the fool thinking? Pythagoras?" He leaned forward, for Pythagoras had grown pale, shaking his head rapidly, his eyes tightly closed against the thoughts in his head.

Jason did not like where this was going. "Pythagoras, there was nothing you could have done!"

"Done? Done for what?" Hercules looked confused, and Jason wondered if this sort of suicide was common in Atlantis. Or was the man in that much denial.

"I told him we would help him. I said, gods help me, I said we had friends in the palace and could get him a fair hearing with the king."

"You said what?" Hercules asked, incredulous.

Jason shushed him.

"You have Medusa, and Jason has the favor of Ariadne…" he looked up, "I know it was the wrong thing to say, I feel ashamed. But I did not know what to do!"

"It is fine. Go on," Jason soothed.

"He looked hopeful for a moment. I kept talking to him. I wanted him to come back here, I wanted him to come down, just come down. We could have helped him, we have helped others before and he was a friend…"

Hercules' face darkened. "Pythagoras…breathe."

Pythagoras' mouth worked silently. He clenched his fists. "He stepped back," he said, his voice barely there. "He stepped away from the roof's edge, and I thought I would fall to the ground in relief. But a sound caught him from behind and he looked, and he - he stepped…" his voice broke.

"He landed right at my feet. His head split from the impact…" Again, his mouth worked but only sobs spilled forth. "There was no time, it seemed he was hardly in the air and then…"

"By the gods," Hercules breathed. He scraped his stool back and stood, turning from the young men at the table.

Jason watched him as he squeezed Pythagoras' shoulder tightly. "Hercules?"

"I am fine."

"Were you close?" Jason asked gently.

Hercules glanced over his shoulder. "We grew up together. But we had not spoken in a long time. Separate paths and all that," he waved a hand at Jason and walked to the balcony.

Pythagoras tried to clear his throat. Jason poured another cup of water and offered it to Pythagoras. "They were best friends when he was young," Pythagoras said softly. "He used to speak of Abderus with great affection. Even if they grew distant, his respect for the man had not diminished." He blinked rapidly. "I should have done something else. I should have gone up there, I could have prevented him from falling!" His anger nearly upset the cup.

"Easy! Drink," Jason steadied the cup in his hand, taking it away only when Pythagoras had sipped at it, and stilled. "Trust me when I say you did all you could do. I truly believe that."

"I am not to blame?"

"Did you force him up there? Did you push him over the side?"

"No! I did neither."

"Then no, my friend, you are not to blame." Jason nodded toward the balcony. "And Hercules does not blame you."

"I do not," the burly man said, re-entering the room. "Abderus had been having trouble for some time. He would not discuss matters with me. That you had to see this…" he shook his head miserably.

"I am sorry," Pythagoras said. "If I could go back and change anything I would."

"Be glad he didn't land on top of you, that is all. I've just lost one friend. Losing two would have put me off the roof after him." He winced at his words, and patted Pythagoras' hand. "I'm going out."

"Hercules," Pythagoras turned, sounding desperate.

"Just to clear my head, rest easy." He sighed, and tried for a small smile, but grief buried it. Pythagoras nodded as he exited.

Jason studied his friend. "Are you all right now?"

"I can not erase it from my mind," he said softly, and rubbed at his eyes with shaky hands. "I yelled out, and he was right about the guards. They came right around the corner and saw what had happened. They shoved me aside. There were no questions, just took up the body and left."

"Odd. That's not like them."

"No. It is not." Pythagoras clenched his first once more, his eyes narrowing, his mouth pressing into a tight line. He sprang from the table.

"What are you doing?"

"I am going to find out why they wanted him. They are responsible for his death."

"You're joking." Jason felt the corner of his mouth tug, then realized his friend was deadly serious. He rose quickly, "Are you insane?" and grabbed him by the arm.

Pythagoras jerked away.

Jason grabbed him once more, this time by both arms. "Listen to me! If you go there in this temper they will arrest you. What good could possibly come of that?"

"I will not just stand by and…"

"I know. You are a loyal friend. If it were me on that roof, you would be in that palace with no hesitation or thought to your own well-being."

Something in that image brought Pythagoras to a halt. He turned and looked at Jason, wide-eyed.

Jason felt his shoulders sag. "I'm sorry. That probably wasn't the best thing to say right now."

"But it is true," Pythagoras said.

"And it would go both ways. So let us do this," he held out his hand, "should something happen to one of us, something which would drive us to contemplate our own demise, we must talk to each other first. Do you swear?"

"I swear," Pythagoras answered quickly, and clasped Jason's hand, setting his other on top.

Jason did the same. "You sit down. I'll get more water and some cloths."

Pythagoras nodded and resumed his stool, saddened, but no longer desperate.

Jason wondered as he soaked the cloths in a bowl of water. In his old life, and it seemed strange to refer to it as his old life, he never had friends like this. It was pure luck he had jumped onto the roof of Pythagoras' and Hercules' home while fleeing the guards himself. He plainly remembered rolling, then desperately clinging to the edge of the balcony rail before a thin, firm grip saved him.

He rejoined his friend and set the bowl on the table. Pythagoras pulled a soggy cloth from the water and wringed it, then eyed the splatters of blood.

It would be different it the blood had belonged to a stranger. "Let me," Jason said, taking the cloth and his friend's hand. He scrubbed the arm hard enough to turn the skin pink, his eyes darting to Pythagoras' in sympathy. "This blood could have been mine, many times over," he said. "But it is not. And that is because of you, and Hercules."

Pythagoras said nothing, but his face relaxed into a small smile. He held out his hand. "Let me finish. You'll skin me alive. I'll have nothing but muscle with the way you're going about this."

"Muscle? Where?"

"Where? Are you serious?" Pythagoras flexed his arm. "Can you not see?"

Jason winced and leaned in, earning a face full of wet cloth.

Pythagoras chuckled lightly, then sobered. "Should we check on Hercules? Or is it better we leave him alone?"

"You know him better than I," Jason said, bracing his hands on his thighs, waiting for the response he knew would come.

Pythagoras nodded. "We should go to him. The shock will have eased. He needs his friends."

There was no running for Pythagoras. Always there, ever a sturdy companion, present when he was needed…and even when he was not.

"Abderus was lucky you were there. It is a shame he did not know it."

And Jason made it a point never to forget it.

End


End file.
